An Ancient Artifact
by Haberdashing
Summary: Transcendence AU prompt fic. The prompt: "Someone has an "ancient Pre-Transcendence artefact". It's junk, but nobody else knows that."


The first thing Dipper noticed about the summoning site was the abundance of cardboard boxes. There were dozens of them surrounding him, some barely bigger than his foot and others nearly as tall as he was, with only a foot or two separating the pile from the edge of the summoning circle. Squeezed in against the boxes he saw a dark blue sleeping bag, a dirty suitcase, and a short person covering themselves in a black hoodie that was several times too large.

"W̶hy ͠dįd͏ ̷y̴ou̧ ͘sum̶mon ͘m̸e͜?"

Their voice was soft, muddled by the thick fabric of their hoodie. "I need a place to stay… no, that's not it. I need a _home_."

Dipper took a second look at his surroundings- the stained and half-open suitcase, the sleeping bag nestled against the concrete floor, the metal walls peeking out from in between the boxes- and put the pieces together.

"Have you been _living_ here?"

"In between couch surfing, yeah." They flipped back the hood of their hoodie, revealing a tuft of black hair and dark, weary eyes. "Things have been… rough for me lately."

Dipper wrinkled his nose. "Sorry to hear that."

The summoner gave him a hollow laugh. "Works out well for you, though, huh?" After a moment's pause, they pulled a crinkled piece of paper out of one of the hoodie's pockets. "I did write down a few details, just to make sure whatever I get… works. That it's not a dollhouse or something, you know."

The corners of Dipper's mouth turned ever so slightly upwards. At least one loophole out of the question, then. "That's only fair."

They snorted. "Fair. Right. Like _you_ care about what's fair."

He narrowed his eyes- to his summoner's credit, they didn't shy away from his gaze, though they did pull the loose folds of the hoodie closer to their body. "Don't get cheeky with me, kid. And speaking of fair… what am _I_ going to get out of this deal?"

"Right. That." They stood up, brushing dust off their tattered jeans. "I have something that's been in my family, well, forever. Not only does it pre-date the Transcendence, but they said it was actually in Gravity Falls during the Transcendence, in the middle of it all! Should be worth a few grand, and that's besides all the memories attached to the thing."

Dipper raised an eyebrow and tapped his claws against his leg impatiently. All this _sounded_ nice enough, but…

"Show me."

"Of course." They began digging through cardboard boxes, moving several to the side but opening none. After one layer was peeled away, Dipper could see that in the corner, still half-buried in boxes, was… well…

Dipper wasn't expecting much from the big reveal, honestly. If everything supposedly obtained from pre-Transcendence Gravity Falls actually had been, well, the town would've had to be a real metropolis to fit it all in there. Given the circumstances, Dipper had a feeling that what he was about to be offered was utterly worthless, sales pitch notwithstanding. Oh, maybe it would hold a bit of value for him out of sentimentality, but getting a real pre-Transcendence magical artifact? Unlikely, to say the least.

He certainly hadn't been expecting… _that_.

It was a piece of junk, to be sure, there was no getting around that… but it was a piece of junk that he _knew_. One that he had been familiar with once upon a time. Not some powerful important relic like the summoner had tried to lead him to believe, and yet…

"Is that the rock-that-looks-like-a-face rock?"

"You've heard of it?" His summoner's eyes lit up, their aura glowing neon blue with surprise and hope. "You probably know more about it than I do, I suppose. I don't know what magics were used to carve it into looking like a face, but since you know so much, I suppose you might have a better idea…"

What magics were used to carve it? Dipper could barely hold back his laugh. He could picture vividly in his mind, now, though it was a scene he hadn't been present to witness first-hand, his great-uncle Stan chipping away at a big block of stone in the middle of the night when he'd decided the Mystery Shack needed a new attraction to suck in the tourists. He'd heard a number of tour groups gawking at it back then, the simple concept of a rock looking like a face utterly baffling them… and, centuries later, it appeared that the masses had grown no less gullible.

"Okay. Who told you that this thing pre-dates the Transcendence and all that? I hope nobody shelled out too much money for this lump of rock."

"No, I wasn't." They crossed their fingers and stared down at their bronze hands. "My grauntie- my great-aunt told me all about it. She's kind of the family historian, she knows all about this stuff. Why? Is it not enough? Was she- was she wrong?"

"No, no, she wasn't wrong…" Okay, so it hadn't been all that they'd made it out to be, but as he thought about it, Dipper realized that what the kid had actually _said_ wasn't far from the truth. Pre-Transcendence? Check. In Gravity Falls during the Transcendence? Check. Family heirloom? Well…

Their name, he learned without having to delve too deep into his pool of knowledge, was Adrie Jameson. They were the child of Dave and Alexis Jameson, both deceased. Grand-child of Caleb Jameson, Jazmina Walker, Tim Mason, and Leanne Mason-Pines…

 _Pines_.

Of course.

Though, of all the Pines family heirlooms the kid could've inherited, it was just Adrie's luck that they ended up with a giant lump of rock.

"Alright, I'll take it, though we'll have to go over what you've got scribbled on that paper there- oh, and one other condition."

Adrie pulled their elbows close to their sides, arms dangling awkwardly. "Yeah?"

"I want to talk about this grauntie of yours and what she's told you about the family history."

Adrie's laugh was soft and nervous, but their smile, though thin, was genuine.

"I think I can handle that."


End file.
